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Sport Nation
The AFL's bizarre statistical feats through five rounds
Jaiden Sciberras • April 15th, 2025 6:57 pm
With all (but two) teams taking the field five times in 2025, the structure of the competition has begun to take shape.
As the top eight begins to reflect a potential outlook to September, clubs and players alike have established a baseline for where they belong amongst the competition’s elite.
With that being said, five games are enough to develop some pretty quirky statistical outliers as teams stabilise their game styles and sharpen up their skills.
We know that stats at this stage mean very little in a context of a season, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate the weird and the wonderful.
We’ve dug deep, collating the most random, and potentially telling statistical feats through five rounds in 2025.
Note: Only players with a minimum of three appearances were taken into consideration.
Individual outliers
Uncle Scott
There are 44 players currently on an AFL list that were born after Scott Pendlebury's debut in June of 2006.
Pendlebury had played nine AFL games, collected 118 disposals, laid 25 tackles and bagged four goals before Levi Ashcroft was born...
Let that sink in.
Could they match up on each other this Thursday night?
Safe-handed Saint
Put it in the hands of... Caminiti?
Anthony Caminiti leads all comers in total (43) and average (8.6) marks thus far. This makes up nearly 10 per cent of all marks for St Kilda, who average 89 marks per game.
Pressure makes diamonds
Tom Atkins has 53 total tackles, leading the tied-for-second Andrew Brayshaw and Josh Dunkley by 13 (40 total tackles each).
For comparison, Richmond has laid a total of 251 tackles this year. Atkins alone tallies more than 20 per cent of the Tigers’ season tally.
Atkins also leading the league in pressure acts (158), and defensive half pressure acts (73).
Docker's delicate touch
Statistically, Luke Jackson is the best tap ruckman in the AFL. From 132 hit outs (12th in AFL), Jackson leads the league in both hit out win rate (53.2 per cent), and hit outs to advantage rate (35.6 per cent, minimum 50 hit outs).
With that being said, Jackson ranks 14th in the competition for ruck contests.
Unlimited stamina glitch
Cemented in the back half.
Only two players have played every second of game time through five rounds – Rory Lobb (WB) and Callum Wilkie (STK).
Deadeye defenders
Don't give these guys any space!
Only two players average over 90 per cent disposal efficiency: Tom Stewart (91.8 per cent from 16.3 disposals) and Luke McDonald (92.5 from 16.0 disposals).
Only 55 per cent of McDonald’s disposals are kicks, while Stewarts opts to go by foot with 87.8 per cent of his disposals (third highest in the AFL).
The three-headed monster
You've heard of Messi, Neymar and Suarez...
The Crows’ tall forward trio have been directly involved in 61 goals this season. Riley Thilthorpe leads the AFL with 23 direct goal involvements (15 goals, eight goal assists), while Darcy Fogarty (16 goals, three assists) and Taylor Walker (12 goals, seven assists) both have 19.
Club outliers
Chaotic Crows
What if chaos ball was an entire identity?
Adelaide leads the league in turnovers per game (66.8) with 51 per cent of the scores they concede spawning directly from these turnovers.
Simultaneously, the Crows lead the league in scores from turnover (75.2 per cent), with nine goals a game coming from their defensive half.
West contest?
Hard ball gets are not a specialty for the Eagles.
While it's been well documented that their clash with Carlton was the lowest contested possession count ever recorded in a single game, West Coast’s average pf 108.2 contested possessions per game is also the lowest in league history, including the shortened games in 2020.
Second disposal specialists
Good teams score in multiple ways. Premiership teams... don't?
The Brisbane Lions average just 4.4 points per game directly from centre bounce, ranking 17th in the competition.
Damning Demons
Moving the ball is not the issue for the Demons... despite ranking fifth in the competition in ball movement from defensive 50, Melbourne rank dead last in scores spawning from defensive half (20.8 per game).
Bottom-agers
By list, Essendon and Fremantle have the youngest average age in the AFL at just 24.5 years old. Yes, younger than both Richmond (24.7) and West Coast (24.7).
Both teams are four years younger than Collingwood's list at 28.5 years old.
Efficient Roos
Finding and using the footy is clearly not an issue for Clarkson's men.
North Melbourne rank fourth in disposals per game (382), while also leading the league in disposal efficiency (77.2 per cent). They are also the only side currently going over 70 per cent by foot (71.7).
